Problems with the Neighbors

I've been spending more time on my bed lately, and not because I've been tired. It all started a few days ago when I met a couple of new neighbors. One is gray and white, and the other is all black...and they're both - Cats. Ugh.

No offense to Bubba Zee, my fellow blogger, (who incidentally underwent a rather traumatic day at the hands of his humans, which you can read all about here) but cats really are mean. On purpose. And I think they actually enjoy it. I really do.

I know, cats really don't have facial expressions. They just have funny-shaped snouts that make them look like they're all superior and everything...but I think I've caught these two smiling (actually it was more like smirking) as they watch me get...well...a little upset.

The gray and white one started it the other day. He (or maybe it's she, I can't get close enough to tell) came strutting up and plopped right down under my house. Imagine that? Right under my house. Which I guard when I'm outside. So naturally I gave chase, and he (or she) took off running. So far so good. But then, the cat turned around and noticed I was at the end of my hook. (Dad and Mom keep me attached to the hook so I don't run away and chase the heard on the wide black trail out front)

That cat came strolling back toward me, just as snooty-casual as you please, and sat down just past the farthest I could reach. And started licking his (her) paws. AAAAHHHHHH!!! What could I do? I had to bark. I had to, right? Wouldn't you? Of course you would.

Well, that was the first time I got brought inside for barking. I mean, I didn't even hear dad say "no barking". I was in the zone, ya know?
Well, anyway, the gray and white remembered right where my hook ended...and now, his (her) favorite trick is to stroll right up to that spot, and sit down. And smirk. Very funny.

That would be bad enough, but it didn't end there. No. He (she) went and told his (her) friend, black cat, about it. And black cat found the other spot where my hook ends. The one right across from the front door of the house. Talk about humiliating!

So that's why I bark. Dad says I have to be a "patient doggie" (whatever that means) and not bark. I don't get that at all. I mean, dogs bark at cats. Right? That's what we do. Maybe I can learn to use the online dictionary some time and look up "patient" and "doggie", and figure out what Dad's talking about.

Meanwhile, I guess I'll just be putting in more time in the ole sack.

Oh, well.

Woof at ya later.

Attack of the Hissin Cousins

I heard Dad and Mom talking about an old movie one time. It was called The Curse of the Cat People. Besides being an absurd idea - cats, while they may be a curse, are not people no matter what they say - it was apparently a pretty awful movie. There were lots of female humans mewling all the time in that screechy noise they and cats make.

But today I found out about something that some of my friends might think of as a horror movie come to life. To make matters worse, it forces me to reveal the skeleton in my closet, something I never planned on having you all know. To my utter embarrassment, I have feline cousins.

There are really a lot of them too. In New York there are Bubba, Arial, and Tia. In Arizona there are Gizmo, George, and the mythical Queenie. I know there are a couple in Washington too but they don't talk to me at all so I can't remember their names. I don't think there are any in California but you never know, they multiply like - cats!

Well, I could have spent my whole life happily ignoring these Hissin Cousins but no! Today I found out that Bubba had the audacity to think he can write a blog, only he decided to be oh so clever and call it a C-LOG! *&^%&#$@! And he couldn't even do it without being catty about it. Wait 'til you hear what he called it.

Okay I need to calm down, he's a cat, what does he know? Cats are the original hacks (as in hair balls heh heh) this won't last long. I'll be be magnanimous, I'll even tell my buds and their humans about Bubba's C-LOG (these days humans need to laugh). So here goes... Friends, my cousin Bubba has begun to put down his thoughts. (Don't worry they don't take long, he's a cat after all) . If you want a good laugh go read it and maybe even follow it. It's called In Answer to a Loud Dogg.

There, I did it. Now do I get a treat?

Woof at you later,
Clancy
(dumb feline can't even spell dog!)

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

I have another new friend besides Penny; one of my favorite kinds of friends. Her name is Katie and I think she's about seven years old (that's 7 in human years).

Katie's dad is fixing the place where the people go to get rained on inside with their clothes off. She comes to play with me after school. She's lots of fun to kiss because she has long long fur that tickles my face when she bends over me.

Her Dad, Joe, always comes with her and sometimes he plays with me too. Sometimes Katie even goes for walks with me and my dad.

I think, after Mom and Dad, and Sage and Chica, and Hilly and LD, and Jugglesorcerer and Buttercup, and Skooba and Pearlie, and Grandfather and Lady B, and the lady in Arkansas who could laugh like the Wicked Witch of the West, and who always had treats in her pocket for me, Katie is my best friend.

There's not a lot of things to see in this place where we are in Tucson and mom said I can't go shopping with them much more because it's too hot in the car and they don't let me in the stores. So it sure is nice to have new friends like Penny and Katie to play with.

Woof at you later,
Clancy

MemoriesThat Haunt Me

Ghost stories are getting really popular among humans these days. Mom and Dad are watching one right now on that flickery box with pictures in it. I don't pay much attention to the stories on the flicker box, but while they're watching it, I remember the ghosts I've come across.

There was the haunted arena in a place called "Tulsa", where we stopped for a long time and some men worked on the house. Dad and I would walk through it, and I got to smell the bulls, and cows and horses, and a few other animals I didn't recognize. They'd had what they called a "Livestock Show" there before we arrived, and all the cows and bulls were sold. After they left, their ghosts stayed in the stalls, and I got to sniff 'em out most mornings.

These days I only get to sniff the occasional ghost, and it's usually another dog or a cat that I find on the sidewalk or in the gutter when we go for a walk. Not as many as before...but this is a different kind of place. Sometimes I miss Tulsa.

Oh well, we're here for a while, so I'll make the best of it.

If those dumb cats keep coming around to tease me under the house, I might just make a couple ghosts of my own.

-Woof at ya later.

I Got in Trouble

I'm not allowed to write my Blog about Easter Bunnies today. It was going to be a really good one about How I've always wanted to chase him around town as he drops those colored eggs.

But I was a bad girl today. And I'm only allowed to ask you to forgive the lack of my entertaining story. I don't think there's any way I could have been as bad as this guy

but Mom says I'll probably grow horns too if I ever ever ever eat her sandwich again!

Woof at you later,
Clancy

Here's What Happened Today

So this afternoon we went for a ride. it was one of those rides where we drive for a little while and then stop. Mom gets out at somebody's house and Dad and I wait while she looks at stuff in the garage or drive way.


Today she bought a bunch of flower pots. Those nice big ones that people have by their front doors. She put them all in the back of the Jeep but she didn't get any plants so now we have five empty pots. They look kind of silly just sitting there.

She also got a blue rug to put near the door to keep the dirt out. I like rugs,I have some of my very own rugs. I have one in our RV, up in the window so I can look out and watch people wave at me( I don't wave back, I just look at them). I have two outside that I can pull around and put wherever I want. I even have one at Sage Word's house.

While we were going for a ride, Dad stopped at a place where they have tables outside and they serve people treats. I really like people treats, especially that really cold stuff that comes in a funny cup you can eat. Sometimes it comes on a stick but you can't eat eat the stick. But today they just got water, at least that's all they gave me.

When we got home I wanted to sit out side for awhile but it got really windy. The awning was flapping up and down a lot and making a lot of noise. and the big rug that's supposed to be under my little rugs was blowing all over and was even on top of mine. Dad went and got some big rocks and put them on the corners. I really don't like wind at all so I went inside with Mom. I'll try out the rocks tomorrow; they look pretty easy to get tangled around so they have to come out and say "poor thing" and give me a treat after they get me unwound. After that, Dad decided to go to the store and get some deflappers. Honest, that's what he called them.
He did. In fact, he got a whole bunch of them. And now the awning is unflappable.

Yeah Dad!

Woof at ya later,
Clancy

There Are More of Us Than You Know

I have just woofled away most of my computer time pawing through the Internet. I don't get a chance to do that very often because it's usually late in the evening and Mom and Dad are telling me to hurry up because they need to get their blogs posted.

Right now, however, it's daytime and Dad is taking a nap. I'm not sure how he can do it while he's sitting in a chair with a book in his lap but he's pretty good at it. In fact, he doesn't even have to turn around three times or nose the chair cover out of the way so he can get under it or anything.

Mom said she is too busy procrastinating to write a blog this afternoon so for once I got to check things out. And I came up with an amazing discovery. I am not one of only two Dogs with a Blog! (I am of course the only one smart enough to have a Dlog, however.)

It all started because I wanted to find out what my pal Buttons was up to. So I went and read his blog (see Treats for Humans over there on the right). Then I wondered if any of my other friends around the country had one. So I Googled "dogs with blogs" and I found a whole pack of 'em!




Right here at Dogs with Blogs. A nice bunch of friends,huh? They looked like they were having fun so I sort of paw-crastinated a bit myself.

Then I spent all afternoon reading about their adventures and leaving them comments. I sure hope some of them come to visit me too.

By the time I finished reading (for today, there are way too many to read them all at once), I was feeling that I totally belonged to the superior species.

But then just to prove I was right I checked; AHWHOOOOO!

Now, I know why they call them copycats! Can you believe the nerve of those felines? Cats With Blogs no less, they couldn't even come up with an original name. I'd have called it Cat-terwalling!

But for those of you who insist on having cats, I should warn you, they have very tiny brains. Using them too much could be detrimental to their health. In fact, it could even become

CATASTROPHIC !

(heh,heh,heh)

Woof at you later,
Clancy

I Make a New Friend

I made a new friend this week. Her name is Penny, and she like to chase the food ball with me.

Mom and dad seem to think its funny that I like the food ball so much; I'm not sure why that is. It's a magic ball, and it really works.

Every once in a while, mom or dad will put some regular food inside the ball, and after I roll it around for a while, the food changes. When it spills out through the hole in the middle of the ball, it tastes Really good.

Penny thinks so too, and today she and I chased the ball around together, and really had fun. Of course, I had to keep the situation from getting out of hand, so I kept the ball close to the underside of our house. She might be a guest, but there's no reason she should get more of the magic food than me.

Anyway, she'll be back to visit again...maybe I'll introduce her to sock next time.

Not much else going on this week. Dad and mom were talking about something called a "computer crash", and there was some extra water in the house for a while, but I didn't see any big deal about it. I didn't hear anything crash, either...I think they made that up.

-Woof at ya later.

Leash Laws

Dad and Mom are really the best humans in the world. They love me and take really good care of me and best of all they take me to places all over the country. But my favorite thing in the world is to hear is "go for a walk".

I really don't care where we go as long as we go. I like going with Yarntangler. Mom makes me walk with her on the short purple leash. That's okay, but she doesn't like to explore muddy places and all those wonderful spots that stink so enticingly. And she never lets me play with dead things. She's good for a long slow walk when I'm in the mood to mind my manners.

One neat thing about going with Mom is that she likes to talk to other humans-a lot. Sometimes they are walking their pets too and we get to sniff, converse. Sometimes it turns out that those humans are attached to some pretty strange companions,let me tell you. Here are a few we've seen.

That little black guy was really pretty cute; talked kind of funny though.


I'm not too sure what this one was. I don't think he knew either to be honest. But he never made a sound at all.

I tried to catch a bird once but it ran right up into the sky. It would have been easier if it had been on a leash.



At first I thought Flopsy was a bunny.
But she said she was a Guinea Pig.




Walking with Geezerguy is a whole different experience. He puts me on one of those leashes that can be long or short. As long as I don't run into the road or pull him down an embankment into a creek, he usually lets me take the lead and stretch out the leash as far as I can. We go some pretty wild places and I've seen some unbelievable things when I walk with Dad.


These two were just weird!



This was completely unexpected. And none of them sniffed my butt either, probably a good thing, I would have had to sniff theirs and one of them did not smell too good!


The other cool thing about going with Dad is that sometimes we take really long walks. That's okay with me, I'm never really ready to go back and Dad's stamina is pretty good for an old human. But I admit I got kind of jealous when we were in South Dakota last summer. We saw this guy walking his pet near Interstate 90 at 1880 Town where we worked for the summer.


Now this man knows how to go for a walk!


Oh well, maybe Geezerguy can work his way up to a walk like that.


Sometimes I wish I could go for a walk without the leash. Trouble is, I get so excited I run all over and forget to come back for a long time and they get mad. I've learned to live with it and sometimes they take me to Dog Parks where I can run around with a bunch of other friends.

And then every once in awhile I spot something that makes me realize life can really be fair.

HA!

Woof at you later,
Clancy

New Experiences

We're "in town" now, and so I have to be on a short leash, and can't dig or bark as much as I could out in the country. But the "in town" animals can be pretty weird. There are some other dogs around...I know because I'm not allowed to bark at them; and there are a few cats I'm not allowed to chase. But the "in town" animals are a new experience entirely:

In the middle of the night, usually several times, there's one that runs really fast along the street, making a "whoop-whoop" kind of sound that hurts my ears. There are strange red lights that must come out of its head and spin around...they shine in the window and make me kind of nervous.

Another animal makes a loud, grinding sound and eats all the trash really early in the morning. It makes a funny "beep-beep-beep" sound when it moves backwards.
Then there's the one that licks up all the dirt from the street. It comes around about the same time as the trash-eater, and makes a kind of shuffling, snuffling sound out in the gutter.

We went for a ride the other day, and I saw a heard of town animals that really made me look twice:
Most of them were yellow, and they were mostly pretty big. I think they're called "double fines" because dad said we were driving through a "double fine zone" when we saw them, and slowed way down.

They were in a corral made of little red-striped fences, and most of them were grazing. Some were eating the asphalt, and some were eating the dirt. A lot of the smaller ones were resting. I think the yellow ones were related to the trash-eaters, because they made the same sound when they moved backward.

So I've learned that there are lots of other animals in the world that I never even knew existed. I can't wait to move spmeplace else and see some more.

I really like RV'ing. It really helps a dog broaden her horizons.
-Woof at ya later.

Hrumph!

Want to hear a good April Fool's Joke?

My humans arbitrarily chose April 1st to be my birthday when they adopted me four years ago.

So yesterday was my birthday and they forgot! I didn't even get a new chew stick!

Whine...

Woof at you later,
Clancy

We're in a Contest

The humans have decided to write lots of computer things this month, and I'm included! This is going to be fun. Even without fingers, I'm looking forward to talking on the internet. It has something to do with baby steps, I think. That's what's on Daddy's blog...so I went on-line and found my own set of baby steps:


Here we go!

-Woof